Penny For Your Thoughts

Watercolouring is the latest technique I've had a dabble with.  I also wanted to play with a stencil my friend Lena bought for me last year.  So I "versa marked" through the stencil and embossed with clear EP, then water coloured and spritzed over the top, then ironed off the embossing powder using brown paper.  

I thought it would fun to pair a Postcard with a one Penny stamp on it and a Marianne D. Penny Farthing die cut.  Naturally the sentiment had to be "Thinking of You" and I chose this one from the WMS Country Labels 14 set.   My friend Jaine designed a neat set of stamps for Sarah Hurley called On Your Bike which feature a Penny Farthing and I've used this on the envelope - I always like to stamp a co-ordinating image on the envelope.

I decided to cut and stamp a postcard on vellum, as I didn't want to hide too much of the background.  Of course this raised the problem of how to adhere it without the adhesive showing through, so there are a few strategically placed embellishments (and a few others as well).  I hope it still qualifies as Clean and Simple because I'm hoping to enter it at the CAS-ual Friday challenge CFC136 which is to use a watercolour technique. 

I was also inspired by Runway Inspired Challenge RIC#77 which has the following photo inspiration.  The dress looks so ethereal - perfect for a watercolour technique.

Thanks for stopping by,

Kate

Lost and Found Hat

My son Simon lost the beanie his Grandma had made him and he was a little upset.  We had narrowed it down to being lost on the bus on the way home from swimming or somewhere in the school playground, which he seemed to think was what had happened.  Unfortunately the snow falling this past week has scuppered any search and rescue plans or indeed any chance that it would be in a reasonable state when it was found.  

Last Thursday the bus driver who drove him to swimming handed it over to him.  Not only had he found it on the bus after they had all alighted the week before, but he had known who it belonged to and had kept it safe so he could return it to him the following week.  I made this card for the driver to show him our appreciation (now we just have to find which driver it was).

It also gave me a chance to experiment with some new ink techniques.  I washed some Distress Inks onto a piece of card stock and sprayed a couple of Glimmer Mists to give it some shine.  I then stamped several hats leaving an empty space.  I had thought to die cut an arrow to point to the empty space but my husband suggested the question mark.  I gave the PTI question mark and the Memorybox "merci" the Glossy Accents treatment and sprinkled them with some Sakura Pale Gold Tempera Powder Colour (something I've had in my stash for over 20 years).

The hat was a little wooden block stamp I bought on a trip to Riot Art Stores in Sydney earlier this year - I thought it would go rather well with some of the stamps from other sets I have and for those difficult man cards we have to occasionally make.  I stamped another hat on the inside and coloured this one in.

I'm entering this card in the Stamplorations January Challenge

I'm also entering this in the Simon Says Wednesday Challenge where Anything Goes this week.

Thanks for stopping by,

Kate

Fine Feathers

A friend of mine is having a pretty tough time at the moment, having received the sort of news no mother would want to hear.  I just wanted her to know I'm thinking of her and her daughter.

I stamped and cut the feathers using the WMS Fine Feathers and matching die set.  I used the sketch from Freshly Made Sketches 170 for inspiration.

Thanks for stopping by,
Kate